Published on Tuesday, September 12, 2017 By Island Dog In GalCiv III News

Enjoy Vast Improvements with this Major Engine Update for Galactic Civilizations III and Crusade!For a detailed list of updates, view the changelog at the bottom of this post and check out the two part dev journals (Part 1 and Part 2) from CEO Brad Wardell.

Improved UIThe AI is now stronger, better, smarter, faster! It is now especially adept at fleet building and management.

Better Game BalancePlayer feedback is the cornerstone of many of our updates. In an effort to continue to make the game more fun, we've re-balanced how population works, adjusted the costs of improvements, improved some ship components, and more.

Faster Turn TimesFor players who love enormous maps with lots of action, the sheer amount of ships on the screen and in the game could cause some major wait-time on turns. We've made adjustments so that the turn times are faster, even when the galaxy is crowded with lots of ships.

Increased PerformanceAs we continue to work on our engine, frame rate and memory useage should improve. We want to make sure that the game runs smoothly for everyone and have made lots of efforts toward that.

UI AdjustmentsTo make the game easier to navigate, Crusade's summary tab has been added on the right (but sorry, you still don't get citizens!). The tech tree, planet screens, ship screens, and govern screens have been adjusted for a better experience as well. To top it all off, we've added the "word on the street" feature from Crusade so that you can keep tabs on how your people are feeling!

Performance EnhancementsSomething that doesn't show well in screen captures is performance. We moved over the AI system in the base game to a core-neutral engine, like what we've done with Crusade.

Economic ChangesGalactic resources now accumulate in the base game, just like they do in Crusade! We think this makes for a better experience overall.

AI ImprovementsWe've done a lot to the AI in order to improve it for the base game. The most noteable change is the Diplomacy system - we've ported over what's in Crusade to help the AI factions make more informed decisions about trade offers. We've also included the trade bar! In addition, trades, planetary management, and other AI improvements that we made in Crusade have been ported over into the base game.

New UI

Updated Economic System

Improved AI Fleet Management

Updated Diplomacy System

Improved Map Generator

Don't have Galactic Civilizations III? Get it now on Steam or at Stardock!

Owners, the v2.5 update is ready and waiting for you in your Steam client. If you haven't already joined the Crusade, the expansion is available on Steam or at Stardock.

Important

Save games from earlier versions of the Galactic Civilizations III will not be supported. Yet, the previous 2.33 build available is a "beta" on steam as "Galactic Civilizations III Classic"

Consolidation Detailed Changes

Merged Crusade and "base" game code. There is now only one exe for both products. Most fixes and improvements will be shared between both games.

The following Crusade specific game play elements are disabled in base game: Citizens, Invasions, Promotions, Espionage.

Base game players continue to have following:

Use the Production Wheel (instead of Citizens) to adjust your planetary and civilization economy. Note that we've removed coercion from the game

Invasion system 1.0

Minor Civilizations 1.0

Administration points are tied to galaxy size rather than citizens.

Base Game changes from Crusade

Crusade and Base game now share a common UI base. Aside from elements tied to version specific features, the UI looks identical between the two versions. For base players, this means a cleaner and more functional UI.

Resources system overhaul. Resources accumulate over time, are required for more ships and improvements, and are more valuable in trading.

Starbases are now upgraded using resources, not constructors.

Updated the diplomacy screen window.

Improvements to the Diplomacy and trading system to use the new resource system; as well as more intelligent and fun to trade with.

Cities/ Food -- you now use food (a resource) to build cities, which determine your colony's population cap. Food can be traded, just like any other resource.

Added "word on the street" -- quick feedback on the status of your planet.

Merged down some of the alerts from Crusade

Crusade specific elements of civ builder are disabled in base game mode.

Changed the Influence and Diplomacy system updates to prevent checksum errors in MP.

Fixed a GWG bug where the base game administrators didn't show up on the first turn

Fixed issue where AI could build multiple starbases in a turn even if they only had one administrator left

United Planets actions are now handled by the host (adds stability, and prevents checksum error)

If you defy the UP and then go into a "new game", the Defy button will no longer be disabled until you restart GC3.

Updated the Title Window to work with both Crusade and Mercenaries.

Fixed issue where Administration tooltip wasn't showing correct available administrators number in base game mode

Fixed issue where "Report" button on ship context window did not actually bring up the faction report screen

Fixed issue where the social/military manufacturing tokens were not clearing whenever manufacturing was at 0

made it so that manufacturing is always split, whether the colony is sponsoring a shipyard or not

Fixed issue where when you purchased a mercenary, the rest of the entries would no longer display their resource cost (you were still prevented from buying the merc, but it gave the illusion that all mercs lost their resource cost)

On the ship context window, the "Report" button is now disabled for special players (like the Dread Lords)

Added error code for transport having no population

Re-implemented the error for "Not Enough Administrators" as it was sometimes not showing up at the right time.

Added stability to the Influence Border System

Fixed issue where the AI could set a ship's destination to a negative y value

Fixed issue where using the Asteroid 1 material for your custom faction would cause the rally point to show up as pure black

Added new material def for rally points (all rally points now use this material instead of the faction materials)

Fixed issue where resource log was showing "shipyards" instead of "starbases" in base game for administrators used by starbases

Fixed issue where starbase administration usage was being shown as an additive instead of a subtractor

Added null check to prevent crash when mousing over a fleet in the map editor

Fleets are now named using the owning faction's full name, instead of the short name

Added build version check between client and host when inviting to an MP lobby (player is now restricted from joining lobbies that have a different build version by invite to match behavior in lobby list)

Fixed MP data loading to better handle mismatched DLC.

Fixed display bug in mercenary window where it wouldn't properly disable mercenary entries if the player couldn't afford only the credits cost of the merc

Fixed issue where mercenaries could be bought by a player when they didn't have enough credits, as long as they had enough of the remaining resources required

DLC 4 (Precursor Worlds)

Production point bonus from one of the events reduced from 4 to 3

Production point bonus from Precursor exploitation reduced from 30 to 3

There's a bunch of the above. Insta-win if you got one of these.

Expansion 1 (Mercenaries)

Mercenary costs increased substantially

Mercenary ships that cost resources cost when you buy them rather than per turn

Mercenary tag added to the mercenarydefs.xml

Crusade

Gameplay

Major fix/improvement to turn times and stuck turn issue: Only battles on screen and zoomed in will be played out OR if it involves the player.

Population to raw production now 1 to 1.

Starting capital world population reduced from 10 to 5

New improvement: Administration Center. Provides an Administration point

Basic laser renamed Enhanced laser as it requires Elerium

Starbase default defenses nerfed somewhat

Starting credits increased from 2500 to 3000

Rush cost multiplier reduced from 25 to 20

Tech inflation added. Now to the 1.02 power.

Governors more friendly to synthetic populations

General balance pass on planetary improvements to go with the new population model

Unique planetary improvements can no longer be destroyed

Planetary Invasion is now in the Age of Expansion (arrives earlier)

Various tweaks to planet features for better pacing

Slight reduction in cost for civilian ship components

Substantial increase in the cost for military ship components

Fixed issue where some improvements would switch their bonus when they upgraded which caused them to be inferior in some cases

General balance pass on weapon values based on feedback

Shipyard HP increased from 25 to 50

Tweaking to various planetary resources to improve pacing.

Calculation of player objects moved out of update AI to improve multi-core stability

Fixed bug where the human could exploit the AI for free ships if the AI treasury was negative (ya bastards!)

AI more risk taking with its colony ships

AI now has its own fleet formation function to avoid ships not becoming fleets (safe)

Fixed bug that would prevent transports from finding a destination in some cases

AI much better about saving up its resources to use with ships

AI much MUCH better at building up its planets, using farms, building cities, etc.

Fixed issue where the Yor would not build up its planets because it was obsessed with reproducing.

Changed the Influence and Diplomacy system updates to prevent checksum errors in MP.

Added null check to prevent crash when mousing over a fleet in the map editor

Fleets are now named using the owning faction's full name, instead of the short name

Added build version check between client and host when inviting to an MP lobby (player is now restricted from joining lobbies that have a different build version by invite to match behavior in lobby list)

Added Rally point material to Crusade material defs to so they don't sometimes disappear.

Fixed MP data loading to better handle mismatched DLC.

Fixed display bug in mercenary window where it wouldn't properly disable mercenary entries if the player couldn't afford only the credits cost of the merc

Fixed issue where mercenaries could be bought by a player when they didn't have enough credits, as long as they had enough of the remaining resources required

Published on Monday, September 11, 2017 By Tatiora In Offworld Dev Journals

Recorded by Reni-6Worker - Yoshimi Robotics

This recording is for recordkeeping and posterity. If our mission should fail and our circuits are taken offline, our creators will know what went wrong. I am called Reni-6 and I have been in charge of overseeing development efforts here on Mars.

Published on Sunday, September 10, 2017 By Frogboy In GalCiv III Dev Journals

Last week I did a one on one test against the Drengin AI set at Normal. It was on a tiny map in which I rushed for invasion tech and killed them.

This time, let's bump the AI to Genius...

AI at Genius

The 2.5 GalCiv III AI is a lot smarter than previous iterations. It handles fleets better. It researches better. It builds up planets more intelligently. But it is really difficult, even in human 1 on 1 games, to deal with a rush.

Now, at Genius, the AI starts out with more money so it's not quite a "fair" game but then again, I'm not playing fair either. Let's see how it goes.

Published on Saturday, September 9, 2017 By Frogboy In GalCiv III Dev Journals

Our story so far...

Every once in awhile, Do a 1 on 1 test on a relatively balanced map to see how well the AI is doing. I play on Normal or Gifted as that puts the AI on roughly equal terms with me.

I choose the Drengin because they are a vicious, evil civilization that has few redeeming qualities and they play the game very differently than most people do (they are absolutely amoral). Their strategies aren't always ideal but they do tend to be interesting.

And so it begins...

Both humans and Drengin start with a class 14 world (a very nice planet) as well as two habitable nearby worlds.

Published on Friday, September 8, 2017 By Island Dog In Sins Developer Journals

This mod stays in the universe of the original, but adds hundreds of changes to create new ways to play this much-loved strategy game. You’ll experience new factions, abilities, and strategies in this mod.

Extended 4X comes with special hero units, new and rebalanced planet types, embassies, random encounters, a new ship upgrade system, deeper civic and planet upgrade mechanics, and much more.

Published on Tuesday, September 5, 2017 By Island Dog In Ashes Dev Journals

“In 2012, Stardock was at a point where we wanted to make games that couldn’t be made with current engines,” Ashes of the Singularity designer Derek Paxton told GamesBeat. “When I first came to Stardock, I said, ‘Hey, listen, let’s quit making a game engine and concentrate on making games. We’re a small company. We don’t have a huge staff. Let’s focus on the part that we’re really passionate about. Let’s make the games.’ [CEO and founder] Brad Wardell said, ‘good luck, go find that engine.'”

Published on Tuesday, September 5, 2017 By Tatiora In Offworld Dev Journals

From the desk of Ilana KamatNew Meridian Scientist - Lead Research Developer

My current analysis of the situation is - it could be worse.

Sure, it could also be a hell of a lot better, but it definitely could be worse.

They call space the final frontier, but I personally think that it’s only the beginning, a stepping stone to greater things and larger horizons. There are plenty of people who think that this is as far as we’ll ever go, and that’s fine by me - let them think that.